[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 14]
[House]
[Pages 19611-19614]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  RECOGNIZING DAY OF THE AFRICAN CHILD

  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Madam Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
agree to the resolution (H. Res. 550) recognizing the ``Day of the 
African Child'' on June 16, 2009, devoted to the theme of child 
survival and to emphasize the importance of reducing maternal, newborn, 
and child deaths in Africa.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The text of the resolution is as follows:

                              H. Res. 550

       Whereas the ``Day of the African Child'' has been 
     celebrated on June 16 each year since 1991, when it was first 
     initiated by the Organization of African Unity;
       Whereas the African Union has designated child survival as 
     the theme of the ``Day of the African Child'', June 16, 2009;
       Whereas the African Union Heads of State and Government 
     decided to make child survival a theme of their 15th Ordinary 
     Session in July 2010;
       Whereas according to the United Nations Children's Fund 
     (UNICEF), sub-Saharan Africa remains the most difficult place 
     in the world for a child to survive;
       Whereas every year in sub-Saharan Africa, 1.2 million 
     babies die in the first month of life and roughly 1 in every 
     6 children fail to reach their fifth birthday, and the actual 
     number of children under five years old dying each year is 
     increasing;
       Whereas an estimated 9 out of 10 women in sub-Saharan 
     Africa will lose a child during their lifetime, and an 
     estimated 700 women will die each day of pregnancy-related 
     causes;
       Whereas the top five killers of children under five in sub-
     Saharan Africa are preventable diseases (neonatal causes, 
     such as respiratory infections, pneumonia, malaria, diarrhea, 
     and HIV/AIDS) which we know how to treat and cure;
       Whereas the high level of maternal and child mortality and 
     morbidity in Africa can be attributed, according to African 
     Union Ministers of Health, to weak health systems, a low 
     level of skilled attendance at birth, poor health 
     infrastructure, and inadequate financial resources;
       Whereas some sub-Saharan African countries have sustained 
     high annual rates of reduction in child mortality through 
     strong political will, sufficient investment, and concerted 
     action;
       Whereas over the past three decades, United States 
     international child survival and maternal health programs 
     have helped save millions of lives in Africa and elsewhere; 
     and
       Whereas last year the G8 Summit leaders, meeting in 
     Hokkaido, Japan, stated on July 8, 2008, ``We reiterate our 
     support to our African partners' commitment to ensure that by 
     2015 all children have access to basic health care (free 
     wherever countries choose to provide this).'': Now, 
     therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) recognizes the ``Day of the African Child'';
       (2) affirms its solidarity to address the challenge of 
     maternal, newborn, and child mortality;
       (3) salutes the health professionals and community health 
     workers on the front lines in Africa who are extending health 
     care and hope to families across the continent; and
       (4) reaffirms the importance of United States partnership 
     with African leaders and communities in reducing child, 
     newborn, and maternal deaths from treatable and preventable 
     causes.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) and the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. 
Ros-Lehtinen) each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from American Samoa.


                             general leave

  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Madam Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks 
and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from American Samoa?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of this 
resolution, and I yield myself such time as I may consume. I certainly 
want to thank our senior ranking member of our House Foreign Affairs 
Committee, my good friend, the gentlelady from Florida, Ms. Ros-
Lehtinen, for her support of this legislation, as well as the chairman 
of our Foreign Affairs Committee, the gentleman from California (Mr. 
Berman).
  Madam Speaker, the Day of the African Child has been celebrated on 
June 16 each year since 1991 when it was first initiated by the 
Organization of African Unity, the precursor of the African Union. 
According to the United Nations Children's Fund, or UNICEF, sub-Saharan 
Africa remains the most difficult place in the world for a child to 
survive. Every year in sub-Saharan Africa, 1.2 million babies die in 
the first month of life. Roughly 1 in every 6 children fail to reach 
their fifth birthday. Despite significant overall progress in 
decreasing mortality rates for children under age 5, each year an 
estimated 9.2 million newborns and children die from preventable and 
treatable causes.
  The top five killers of children under five include neonatal causes 
such as respiratory infections, pneumonia, malaria, diarrhea and HIV/
AIDS. According to African Union Ministers of Health, the high level of 
maternal and child mortality and morbidity in Africa are attributed to 
weak health systems, a low level of skilled attendance at birth, poor 
health infrastructure, and inadequate financial resources.
  Progress in reducing maternal newborn and child deaths can be 
achieved through increased coverage of proven solutions. Over the past 
three decades, U.S. international child survival and maternal health 
programs have helped save millions of lives in Africa and elsewhere. We 
join in solidarity with national leaders across Africa, UNICEF and many 
other humanitarian groups in marking the Day of the African Child with 
a continued commitment to boost child survival. I strongly support this 
resolution and urge my colleagues to support this measure.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume. Madam Speaker, I rise in strong support of House Resolution 
550, recognizing the Day of the African Child, which is observed each 
year on June 16. Since 1991, June 16 has served as the day to draw 
attention to the ongoing threats to child survival in Africa and to 
highlight the need to reduce newborn and child deaths in Africa. 
According to UNICEF, 11 million children die each year. In sub-Saharan 
Africa, which is the most heavily impacted region in terms of child 
mortality, 1.2 million babies will die in the first month of their life 
each year. An estimated 1 out of every 6 African children will never 
reach their fifth birthday.

                              {time}  1900

  Of the top 10 countries in the world with the highest rates of 
mortality for children under 5, nine are in Africa. Unfortunately, that 
figure does not significantly improve as you look further afield. Of 
the top 50 countries with the highest rates of child mortality, 41 are 
in Africa, but perhaps even more devastating than these figures is the 
fact that many of these deaths are preventable.
  According to UNICEF, 70 percent of all child deaths are attributable 
to six causes, including diarrhea, malaria, neonatal infection, preterm 
delivery, and lack of oxygen at birth.
  More than half of these could be avoided through low-tech, evidence-
based, cost-effective interventions, such as vaccines, antibiotics, 
nutritional supplements, bed nets treated by insecticide, and improved 
family care practices.
  Again, with strong political will, targeted investments in health 
systems and with concerted action to confront the underlying causes of 
these high rates of child mortality, many of these deaths can be 
averted. As the resolution indicates, Madam Speaker, United States 
international child survival and maternal health programs have helped 
save millions of lives in Africa and beyond over the past three 
decades.
  Since 1986, the United States Agency for International Development, 
USAID, has provided over $7 billion in assistance. With other 
international and private-sector partners, the U.S. has succeeded in 
reducing child deaths by 50

[[Page 19612]]

percent since 1990 from diseases related to diarrhea. The U.S. has 
provided over 100 million immunizations to children each year, and the 
U.S. has reduced malnutrition by 25 percent among children under the 
age of 5, but much more needs to be done. For this reason, I support H. 
Res. 550.
  I reserve the balance of my time, Madam Speaker.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I yield such time as I may consume.
  Madam Speaker, I want to commend the distinguished chairman of our 
Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, and I would like to commend 
his ranking member, the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), not only 
for their leadership but for their tremendous commitment and efforts in 
trying to help establish programs that are helpful to the citizens of 
Africa.
  There are approximately 500 million people who live in Africa. 
Recognizing the children of Africa and recognizing the tremendous 
health problems that they're confronted with, I think, is certainly 
something that our government has a moral responsibility to do, and we 
must do what we can to be of assistance.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I am proud to yield 4 minutes to the 
gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith), the ranking member of the 
Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. I thank my good friend, Ranking Member 
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, for her leadership, and I want to thank my good 
friend Eni Faleomavaega and, of course, Chairman Payne, who is the 
author of the resolution before us.
  Madam Speaker, as ranking member of the subcommittee and as a 
cosponsor of this resolution, I share Chairman Payne's deep and abiding 
concern regarding child survival, which was the theme of this year's 
event.
  For the record, as a Member of Congress, I've worked for most of the 
last 29 years on child survival initiatives. I began in the early 1980s 
with the four pillars of child survival and with the famous Jim Grant, 
the former UNICEF director, who was a passionate defender of those very 
low-cost interventions that could literally save lives--including 
vaccinations, oral rehydration therapy, growth monitoring, and 
breastfeeding, which can effectuate miracles in the lives of children 
and their families.
  Madam Speaker, there is a universal recognition that our children are 
our Nation's most precious, vulnerable citizens who demand every 
protection and safeguard society can provide. In no way is this 
protection and assistance needed more today than on the continent of 
Africa.
  Africa is home to just over 10 percent of the world's population; yet 
it accounts for some 44 percent of all children who die before they 
reach the age of 5. There are estimates that some 4.6 million African 
children under 5 lose their lives each and every year. The 
circumstances under which a baby is born and the first few days of life 
outside the mother's womb are critical.
  In the 2009 State of the World's Children report, the U.N. Children's 
Fund reports that, in 2004, the highest rates of neonatal deaths--
deaths within the first 28 days after birth--occurred in West and 
Central Africa at the rate of some 45 per 1,000 live births. Eastern 
and Southern Africa also had the highest rates at 36 neonatal deaths 
per 1,000 live births. That compares to about 3 deaths per 1,000 live 
births in industrialized nations.
  Even within this short window of time, there are great variations in 
the baby's likelihood of survival. The greatest risk is during the 
first day after birth when an estimated 25 to 45 percent of neonatal 
mortalities occur. Almost three-fourths of all neonatal deaths occur 
within the first week after birth.
  As UNICEF points out, a baby's chance of survival is not determined 
at the moment of birth. The report points out ``the health of mothers 
and newborns is intricately related, so preventing deaths requires, in 
many cases, implementing the same interventions.'' Among those 
interventions are adequate nutrition, prenatal care for the unborn 
child, antenatal care, skilled birth attendants, and access to 
emergency obstetric care when necessary.
  Basically, we now know that we must treat expectant mothers and their 
unborn children as two patients to ensure the survival and the 
sustainable health of both. Therefore, the resolution correctly 
emphasizes the necessity of improving child, newborn and maternal 
health in order to ensure child survival in Africa.
  Again, I want to thank Mr. Payne for introducing the resolution.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I have no other speakers, so I yield 
back the balance of my time.
  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. Madam Speaker, I do want to again commend my good 
friend from New Jersey for his most eloquent statement and for his 
commitment in helping our people in Africa, and I would like to commend 
the senior ranking member of our House Foreign Affairs Committee for 
her support of this legislation.
  Ms. McCOLLUM. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of H. Res. 550, a 
resolution recognizing the Day of the African Child.
  Each year more than half a million women die in pregnancy and 9 
million children die of preventable causes, half of whom are in Africa. 
This resolution recognizes the need to reduce maternal, newborn, and 
child deaths in Africa, and recognizes the Day of the African Child 
which is held yearly on June 16th, and the importance of the U.S. 
partnership with African Leaders.
  At this moment millions of boys and girls across the continent of 
Africa are struggling to survive. In Sub-Saharan Africa roughly 1 in 
every 7 children fail to reach their fifth birthday--the highest rate 
of under-five mortality in the world--and 9 out of 10 African mothers 
will lose a child during their lifetime.
  But the picture in Africa is not hopeless. Eritrea, Ethiopia, Malawi 
and Mozambique, for example, have made significant progress in child 
survival and have reduced their under-five mortality rates by 40 
percent or more since 1990. The African Union has made child survival a 
theme for their 15th Ordinary Session in 2010 and the G8 Summit leaders 
have also made a commitment to ensure all children have access to free 
basic healthcare by 2015.
  On June 16, 2009 I held a briefing with the Global Health Caucus and 
the Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health to commemorate the Day of 
the African Child to explore the challenges remaining and actions to 
improve the well being of Africa's children. I was pleased to co-host 
this event with Congressman Payne, the African Union, and several other 
organizations.
  I urge my colleagues to support this resolution to make children and 
mothers in Africa and the developing world a priority.
  Madam Speaker, on July 14, 2009 I had the opportunity to speak at the 
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) to discuss the 
development of a comprehensive strategy for improving the health of 
newborns, children, and mothers in the developing world. I would like 
to enter my remarks from this event into the Congressional Record.

      Advancing Maternal and Child Health in the Developing World

       Good morning. I greatly appreciate the opportunity to be 
     asked by CSIS to speak about global health and specifically 
     the health needs of women and children in the world's poorest 
     countries.
       Let me start by thanking and congratulating CSIS and Steve 
     Morrison for the on-going commitment to elevate the 
     importance of global health. The work here is essential to 
     the examination of U.S. foreign policy and the health 
     investments our country is making around the world. CSIS's 
     global health effort is impressive and really important.
       Many of you are here today because you are working to 
     improve basic health care for women and children across the 
     developing world. Thank you for all that you do. Your work 
     may be to prevent needless deaths or to create opportunities 
     for tens of millions to achieve a basic quality of life in 
     which extreme poverty, hunger, disease, and suffering are 
     defeated. It is all important work and we need you to keep 
     fighting.
       Let me open my remarks with a single sentence from last 
     week's G8 Global Health Experts Report: ``Women and children 
     are among the most vulnerable groups and progress toward the 
     MDGs related to maternal, newborn and child health remains 
     too slow.''
       Let me repeat that last part again . . . ``progress toward 
     the MDGs related to maternal, newborn and child health 
     remains too slow.''
       Let me rephrase that in another way, 25,000 newborns and 
     children under-five died yesterday, are dying today, and will 
     die tomorrow--and everyday for the foreseeable future. One 
     thousand-five hundred mothers

[[Page 19613]]

     will die during pregnancy or after delivery today, tomorrow, 
     and everyday for the foreseeable future.
       Is progress to end needless, preventable deaths progressing 
     too slowly?
       Of course it is. We don't need a G8 global health report to 
     tell us this.
       What the G8 should do is ask the mother and father of one 
     of the more than nine million children who died last year if 
     progress has been too slow. Or, they could ask the orphaned 
     children whose mother was one of the more than half million 
     women who die every year from a pregnancy related death.
       So what are we--the richest nation and the other donor 
     nations--doing to significantly reducing child and maternal 
     mortality while investing in building sustainable health 
     systems?
       Unfortunately, not enough in my opinion.
       Taking on the challenge of achieving MDG 4 to reduce 
     children mortality (by two-thirds) and MGD 5 to reduce 
     maternal mortality (by three-quarters) is a goal that could 
     be accomplished if the world community invests and acts.
       The goals are doable. But the fate of millions of women and 
     children cannot be just a talking point in a speech or a 
     summit declaration. We need to do more than just talk about 
     the MDGs.
       With regard to maternal and child health inspiring action 
     may be our biggest challenge. Ministries of Health in Sub-
     Saharan Africa and South Asia understand that women and 
     children are dying in massive numbers in their countries. The 
     development and global health community understand the 
     problem. Everyone in this room understands the situation.
       We don't need to wait for a miracle drug or a great 
     technological breakthrough to deliver an essential package of 
     interventions that can save the lives of millions of children 
     and hundred of thousands of women every year. We are 
     delivering those interventions today. And it is being done 
     all around the world right now, but it does need to be scaled 
     up and sustained.
       We know skilled birth attendants are needed at all births 
     and we know how to recruit and train them.
       We know expanding access to family planning and child 
     spacing improves the health of women and their children.
       We know exclusive breast feeding, immunizations for 
     measles, Vitamin A, and bed nets have combined to save 
     millions of lives over the past decade.
       We know the work of GAVI, the Global Fund, UNICEF and UNFPA 
     are saving lives.
       And, we know USAID has been making major contributions to 
     maternal and child health, as well as reproductive health, 
     for decades. Tens of millions of people are alive today 
     because of the child health programs implemented by USAID and 
     paid for by the American people over the past forty years. We 
     need to celebrate this tremendous success.
       All of you here today know every imaginable statistic and 
     fact about the lack of maternal and child health care, the 
     medical consequences, and the human cost. A lack of data is 
     not the problem.
       So let's look at maternal and child health from a different 
     perspective. What don't we know?
       This is a harder question.
       Something must be missing if we know how to solve such a 
     serious problem, save lives, and yet, children and moms are 
     still dying needlessly.
       Let me throw out a few questions for you to think about, 
     because I am looking for answers myself.
       Where is the urgency to save the lives of children and 
     mothers?
       Where is the political will to invest in the lives of 
     children and mothers?
       And does anybody know or care to know the names or the 
     faces of those babies and women who are dying needlessly at 
     this very moment?
       These are the questions we need to answer if we are going 
     to translate the endless reports, policy papers and strategic 
     plans into the advocacy, inspiration, investments, and action 
     needed to save lives.
       I am looking for answers and I am looking to you to help 
     find them.
       I am one voice and vote in the House of Representatives--
     there are 434 other voices and votes as well. Is child or 
     maternal survival a priority issue for Congress? We know it's 
     not but can it be much more of a priority?
       Imagine the possibility of a terrorist attack in which 5 
     million children were at risk, but we knew how to prevent the 
     attack and we knew it would cost $5 billion to save those 
     lives. Would Congress spend the money? Of course we would--
     even the Blue Dogs would vote for it.
       Unfortunately, the terror that strikes millions of parents 
     who watch their children die from malnutrition or malaria is 
     not the same terror that inspires Congress. The real sense of 
     urgency may need to start beyond Washington, in the very 
     countries in which women and children are dying at 
     unacceptable rates.
       For example, India and Pakistan have billions of dollars to 
     spend on advanced military hardware including nuclear 
     arsenals and yet tens of millions of their citizens live in 
     abject misery and die for no reason other than they are poor.
       Nigeria, a petroleum exporter, leads the African continent 
     in the number of mothers and children dying each year. This 
     should be a source of shame for such an African power.
       Where is the urgency in India, Pakistan, or Nigeria to 
     invest in their own citizens' lives? And, if they aren't 
     willing to make their own children's lives a priority, how do 
     I convince my constituents to make their kids a priority?
       Clearly the lack of urgency from the very countries where 
     women and children are dying translates directly into a lack 
     of political will.
       Since the whispers of dying moms and children are not heard 
     by politicians in Ethiopia, Zambia, Afghanistan, or the 
     United States, there should be no expectation that preventing 
     these deaths will be a political priority any time soon.
       For example, where is the urgency among nations of Sub-
     Saharan Africa to lobby Congress to save the lives of their 
     own citizens? If Africa's presidents are not prioritizing 
     maternal child health their ambassadors in Washington will 
     not be knocking on Congress's door asking for increased 
     appropriations.
       No urgency translates into a lack of political will which 
     in turn means limited resources and more needless deaths--a 
     self-perpetuating cycle.
       How will the NGO, think tank, and advocacy community help 
     to break this cycle? I want to hear your ideas.
       Here at home, is there the political will for the U.S. to 
     be the global champion for women and children?
       The Obama Administration has demonstrated the ability to 
     understand and articulate a global health vision. There have 
     been numerous positive statements regarding maternal child 
     health.
       The Administration's leadership would be essential for any 
     major increase in investments for maternal child health in 
     FY2011. But that requires the President to nominate someone 
     to lead our nation's international development efforts. It is 
     critical that a USAID administrator get in place as soon as 
     possible.
       How to inspire the political will--in the U.S. and around 
     the world--is something the child and maternal health 
     advocacy community needs to think long and hard about.
       This is an area where policy, politics, and pressure need 
     to come together to make real change.
       Unless a new model of grassroots advocacy, political 
     engagement, lobbying of Congress and the White House, and 
     real pressure from Americans all across this country takes 
     place--from school children to church groups to civic 
     organizations--I am afraid maternal and child health will 
     stagnate as an issue and we will not be successful at 
     appropriating the increased dollars needed to save lives.
       The reality we are facing is that the political and policy 
     success of the global HIV/AIDS community has put a real 
     squeeze on all other global health accounts.
       In the House FY2010 State and Foreign Operations 
     Appropriations bill we invested $7.8 billion for global 
     health with seven out of every ten dollars going to HIV 
     prevention, treatment or care. With regard to treatment, 
     PEPFAR has created a global health entitlement program that 
     means a person's lifetime treatment for HIV takes priority 
     over other health investments, like child and maternal 
     health. The cost is not only financial, but tradeoffs are 
     being made that can be counted in lives lost--too many lives.
       As Congress goes through our own domestic health care 
     reform all of my colleagues and I have heard first hand 
     stories from countless constituents about their challenges 
     accessing or affording quality health care. Those stories and 
     the people who tell them demonstrate the real need for health 
     care reform.
       Who are the mothers and fathers and children we are willing 
     to invest our tax dollars, our energy and our ideas for to 
     build healthier families and communities in far away places? 
     Unless we can make these lives real--less of a statistical 
     abstraction--tens of millions of children and millions of 
     mothers will continue to die.
       Last week Nicholas Kristof wrote in his New York Times 
     column that ``humanitarians are abjectly ineffective at 
     selling their causes.''
       He went on to say, ``I also wonder if our unremitting focus 
     on suffering and unmet needs stirs up a cloud of negative 
     feelings that incline people to avert their eyes and hurry 
     by. Maybe we should emphasize the many humanitarian 
     successes, such as falling child mortality rates since 1990--
     which mean that 400 children's lives are saved every hour, 
     around the clock.''
       If Mr. Kristof is correct in his assessment, then we should 
     be championing successes--every toddler who is now a teenager 
     because of access to basic healthcare, good nutrition and 
     clean water.
       It is absolutely remarkable to know that there are 
     circumstances in which for a few hundred dollars invested in 
     the right place, at the right time, with the right 
     intervention available--an illness can be prevented, an 
     infection can be treated, a mother can deliver a child 
     safely. Hundreds of thousands of American citizens are 
     contributing their own money to NGOs to make a difference in 
     the

[[Page 19614]]

     life of a family or person they don't even know. If those 
     Americans can be mobilized to make child and maternal health 
     a priority for President Obama and Congress then the power of 
     the American people and our tax dollars will save lives--
     millions of lives.
       As we all know there are many competing development 
     challenges that require resources and collectively contribute 
     to making poor communities healthier, more successful, and 
     better prepared to meet the opportunities of the future. 
     Whether it is basic education, agriculture development, clean 
     water, or maternal and child health, we need to make smart 
     investments that produce results and demonstrate to the 
     American people real improvements in real people's lives.
       Let me conclude by asking for your ideas and suggestions 
     about how to mobilize and inspire action from the American 
     people, Congress, the White House, as well as foreign leaders 
     to make maternal and child health a global priority. I would 
     like the opportunity for a dialogue on what NGOs, donors and 
     policy makers can do to energize, mobilize and communicate 
     more effectively on this issue.
       As all of you know, I am the author of H.R. 1410--The 
     Newborn, Child, and Mother Survival Act--which authorizes the 
     development of a U.S. strategy to reduce child and maternal 
     mortality and implementation of the strategy by USAID.
       It is a good bill, but it's not enough.
       We need a campaign--a movement--in support of the millions 
     of children and women's lives we can save if we only try.
       We need action in Congress and parliaments in donor and 
     developing countries.
       We need to organize parents and children as activists.
       We need to motivate and mobilize a political movement that 
     will create the support for the resources to allow 
     investments in interventions that will save lives, change 
     communities, and transform our future.
       I am committed to making pregnancy, child birth and a 
     newborn's start in the world safe, healthy and a joy for 
     every family--even the poorest of families in the poorest of 
     countries.
       We have a lot of work to do to make this vision a reality 
     and I look forward to hearing you ideas about how we can get 
     moving.

  Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA. I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega) that the House suspend 
the rules and agree to the resolution, H. Res. 550.
  The question was taken.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. In the opinion of the Chair, two-thirds 
being in the affirmative, the ayes have it.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Madam Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground 
that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum 
is not present.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.
  The point of no quorum is considered withdrawn.

                          ____________________